we will hold those in power accountable that are hiding from the american people. the era of obstructionism and secrecy ends today and it ends with a name. i'm sure leta grijalva and we will not rest until justice prevails. with that i want to introduce the democratic caucus chair pete aguilar. >> thank you chairman espaillat. it's an honor to be with my congressional hispanic colleagues as well as the democratic caucus to bring in adelita grijalva into our ranks. let's be clear this moment

should have happened two months ago. speaker johnson republican leadership seem to use their special election to set a new record. the longest time a member alexis had to wait to be sworn in. there is no justification to deny them of the representation speaker johnson toasted himself into knots trying to explain it. we all know the real reason. donald trump and republican leadership are on keeping the epstein files hidden from the american people. his leader jeffrey said they are running a retention program. the house oversight committee obtained more e-mails that raise serious questions about donald trump's involvement with these crimes. as recently as today the white house was trying to search gop votes on the petition to

continue these cover-up efforts. now with representative grijalva in congress we will have the votes necessary to force transparency and accountability and importantly arizonans finally have a member who is able to carry out their work to represent their interests and to be their voice in congress. i'm proud of the work congressman grijalva has done for our constituents will being wrongly kept out of congress. she is gone above and beyond and i look forward to working with her in years to come. to lower costs state health can improve the lives of the american people. with that i would like to introduce the ranking member of the small business community. >> thank you represented tyvola or. and the chair of the hispanic caucus. speaker johnson has finally

sworn in adelita grijalva and the people of arizona seventh congressional district once again have representation in congress. for seven weeks the speaker left the people of arizona without representation. without access to constituent services that without a voice here in washington. it was a cynical, and unprecedented because the speaker wanted to delay the release of the epstein filed for as long as possible. under the direction of his boss, donald trump. a 34 time convicted felon's sexual abuser and long-time friend of pedophile trafficker jeffrey epstein. if there was any doubt just look

at what happened today. the white house was working the phones desperately trying to get a republican to remove their name from the discharge petition. but they cannot stop the truth from coming up. now that adell lead to it here we will insure this files see the light of day and that justice is served. and let me close by saying how excited i am to work with adelita grijalva. she is a strong voice for working people and will be an invaluable member. [speaking spanish]

[speaking spanish] [speaking spanish] and now it is my pleasure to invite chc equipped garcia -- quit garcia. >> thank you and thank you to the chair and our caucus chair and thank you and much as gracias to the people of arizona and sending adelita to congress. he said it in your remarks which were excellent remarks that

[speaking spanish] and your absolute correct because i know they will be many others to follow. her record is there her father's legacy is there and we know good people come from arizona so thank you for joining us. when i think about it who would really want to with somebody named adelita? [laughter] not only is it a great name but it's a warrior and a fighter and that's what she is. imagine the courage she has, the determination and the patients the stamina, the grace. i've watched her. she's been doing all this with all this pressure with great grace and seven weeks is a long time to have to wait.

it is just. but the speaker wouldn't do his job because that's what it boils down to. he has no respect for the voters of arizona. he was about bending the knee to the wishes of the fellow in the white house to protect that felon and other felons and that may be implicated through the epstein files. but you know what it took a latina to do it. because she is not only making history, that's history. she's she is the first latina coming from arizona. as one of 21st latina is coming from texas so that's history already and now she has waited for 50 days again the

longest that someone is ever had to wait in the needed -- united states congress to be sworn in. that's a history on the part of speaker johnson. now she's making history again because her first action was to go there and sign a petition. and to reinforce that vote. will be a historic vote because we will be making something that many people try to hide. many people want to avoid it many excuses remain but for this strong latina with courage it would not happen. so today is our caucus chairman jens the oversight committee has given us more e-mails that implicate the felon in the white house even more. i'm very hopeful that we will

get a vote and we will get justice for all the victims and we will put an end to the practices of not only all those implicated in the epstein files that others who may have also exhibited that conduct because it's just wrong. but let's all remember that it took our adelita to insure that justice would be done for all of those victims. with that i yield back and we were asking our chair from arizona to come up. thank you chairman espaillat and thank you caucus chairman aguilar for your leadership in bringing all of us together

here. today is a very powerful day. for democracy and for represent tatian but most of all for me it's a powerful day for in congress. but tina's who have to fight twice as hard to simply be heard. the 19th amendment women have had to fight to keep our seats at the table. for that fight is relentless. we work twice as hard, we push twice as far and stop at nothing to take what is ours. under this administration and republican majority those attacks have only doubled down. they want power over everything. and they target women without shame. after more than seven weeks of

delay congresswoman adelita grijalva has finally taken the seat as she rightfully earned on the floor of the united states congress. representing the people of arizona seventh district. but we will not forget that for all of these weeks and she has had to work without staff, without office equipment, without the support that is afforded to every other member of congress. her swearing-in she becomes the 218th signatory on the epstein file position, a fight for transparency and women's voices. she will never back down and

neither will we. she brings courage and fearlessness to stand her ground even though her position has been denied. we are so honored to welcome adelita to the rank-and-file membership of the congressional hispanic caucus in the big and powerful democratic caucus. we will to earn our majority in the next election. [speaking spanish] [speaking spanish]

[speaking spanish] [speaking spanish] and now i would like to welcome the vice chair salinas. >> at afternoon and i want to thank the congressional hispanic caucus and our chair congressman aguilar. first off to congresswoman grijalva for more than two

months mike johnson delayed tonight in light to avoid swearing in congresswoman grijalva. for speaker johnson it was about silencing congresswoman grijalva. this was about silencing hundreds of thousands of arizonans robbing them of their voice in congress. this was about silencing the victims of jeffrey epstein all to protect donald trump. however let this be a lesson to all of us. she, her constituents in the victims will not be silenced. ultimately justice will prevail and the truth will come to light. that is what today is about. but this victory also serves as a warning. but links will mike johnson and republicans go to, to deny the people their voice and strip

democrats of their power? while we should celebrate today as a victory for the congresswoman, her constituents, her family and the victims we must not ignore the republicans are willing to do to cling to power and to hide from the inconvenient truths. again [speaking spanish] next it like to welcome congresswoman randall from the great state of washington. >> it's about time. congratulations to my colleague congresswoman grijalva. i know that you are going to represent arizona seventh district and our nation so admirably because you are a half. for the last 50 days congresswoman grijalva has had to fight harder than any member

of congress before to do their constitutional duty. to be seated after she was duly elected to represent her constituents even when she's able to hire folks. her neighbors deserve her to be well supported in this job. her neighbors deserve for her to be able to her as additional duties and she wasted no time. not only working hard these last few days but in taking up the pen immediately after she was sworn in to pay the 218th signature on the record to release the epstein files. as a member of the senate committee i'm appalled that speaker johnson republicans would have prevented the proper representation of the arizona seventh to prevent the release of the epstein files by shutting down the entire government for 43 days, avoiding transparency,

avoiding accountability in keeping secrets for the president. 43 days too long finally being sworn in mean so much for her constituents. the end of her constituents taxation without robson patient and her neighbors finally have a voice in government but also mean so much for the voices of the survivors, women and girls were trafficked who are finally going to have their stories told. my colleagues and i and oversight committee the larger democratic caucus will keep fighting to make sure these files are seen. thank you congressman grijalva for doing your duty. congresswoman grijalva are doing your duty. we have heard from the powerful

voices of the women of the congressional hispanic caucus and it is not by coincidence or by chance that you have heard from them today. because with t. know women in our community are the center, the spinal cord of those families. they are unafraid and they are strong voices that feed our families or children in the lead men. so of course we are here with them today and we have listened to their points of view. on this issue of the epstein files. i'm sure all of us have had in a

bolita [speaking spanish] tell me who you walk with and i will tell you who you are. so we heard adelita today on the floor. she was sworn in and speak truth to power, unafraid. i don't think anyone here could say the beer to anyone on that floor. and she spoke eloquently, decisively. she waited for weeks to say that the important message that she was sworn in and just before she signed that petition. so we have her with us today.

adelita grijalva. [applause] >> thank you to the congressional caucus for organizing this and thank you for all standing behind me during the last 50 days. 50 days is a very long time and getting through the last two weeks through the obstruction and my swearing in and as arizona's first latina to kona arizonan. we shattered the glass ceiling together and i'm grateful to my community and to the leaders who paved the way. this historic moment comes with the sober reality. it was delayed by 50 days. the longest in modern history. and let's understand very clearly that if i were

republican i would not have waited this long. if i were a man i would not have waited this long. we all know that the rules are always different for women of color and people of. we have to fight against that. there is no way that this can never happen again to anyone at all. we are going to push forward bipartisan legislation to ensure it because we cannot allow this to happen to anybody again. for one individual to be able to silence 800,000 people? it's unconscionable. it's just not okay. so you know what this representation is so important. it's important to me is the daughter of congressman grijalva who served our community for 50 years total, 22 years in congress pay people in our community know what it's like to

depend and for us to not have that representation is painful. but and adding insult to injury is one speaker johnson would placate and make misogynistic comments about what i should and should not be doing. they all know better than i do if you don't have a budget you can't do anything. that's the situation i've been in for the last few weeks. speaker johnson perfectly obstructed my swearing in by canceling vote after vote. and that epstein filed discharge positions that one signature short. with my signing we are one step closer to the truth, the truth that they will try to deny the survivors deserve their day of justice. and the american people demand it. and we stand a made up another vote that shows how little

republicans understand reggae party passed a bill to stop health insurance for more than 50 million people and now they are pushing one that will send premiums skyrocketing for 22 million more. these attacks fall the hardest on vulnerable communities -- communities is this their children who rely on medicaid and jim: because their parents have jobs about employer-provided coverage but the congressional hispanic caucus understands what's at stake and we will stand together to protect our democracy and demand accountability from those in power. finally my overwhelming election in arizona sends a clear message this nation built by immigrants chosen by diversity will choose hope over and leadership over chaos every time. we are here to build and not to tear down our shared future. thank you so much. [applause]

questions? [speaking spanish] [speaking spanish] [speaking spanish]

thank you so much. democrats contend say that it's republican have files hidden but he tried to release the epstein files up immediately and democrats blocked it. you have any insight as to what happened there and why? he reported it just four minutes ago. >> republicans will stop at nothing to hold the disclosure of misinformation. what that means is 218 signatures were reached despite white house efforts even in the 11th hour to summon people to the white house to get them to remove their signatures. those members that no so our world indicate that 218 members get a vote. that's what we are looking forward to. we are looking for people to

avoid taking a vote on this. that is a weak effort to try to allow republicans to stop this measure without being accountable and showing whether they support this or not. the discharge process has its rules and let's bring the question. nothing personal -- prevents the speaker from bringing this up tomorrow if you wanted it done but if he drags it out and if the will of the bipartisan coalition holds we will have this to force in a couple of weeks. we are interested in every member in this chamber putting their vote up. either a yes or a no and then we will see what happens from there. >> a question for congressman grijalva.

[inaudible] >> really? it's been a minute. people keep asking me how i feel and honestly maybe all have a better answer tomorrow but right now we have waited so long that i'm looking at my kids my mom and my husband and their looking at us like what does that feel like? i think i've been correcting people for so long. they say congressman and isaiah left but now i don't have to say that. and very humble and very honored to represent arizona. it's a beautiful community that deserves full representation. it's a little bit of a piecemeal so truly being able to serve the people of the beautiful he diverse communities i'm very excited about it.

>> thank you so much everybody. >> thank you. well.

for what purpose does the gentleman from oklahoma seek recognition?